INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 5

Isaiah is singing a song about a vineyard that had been well cared for—it had been grubbed, briers cut and burned, cultivated and a good selection of vine stock planted. The owner had built a fence around it and built a guard tower in the center of it and a wine vat to squeeze the grapes in. However, at harvest time it yielded nothing more than a few sour grapes. As the song continues we are informed that the vines are the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem and that the owner is going to cut down the vineyard and turn the field into a pasture for sheep and goats. The owner was looking for a crop of justice but all he got was a crop of victims. The song is about these high-rollers, rising before breakfast and boozing it up and then spending the day evicting land owners so they could acquire their land. They were using lies to sell evil so they could line their pockets but the land owner is going to “hiss” a nation from the north and they are going to come with a vast army and carry these people into exile. The entire song is waiting for you in the exposition.

EXPOSITION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 5

1Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

This love song or ballad is about the vineyard that God planted high up on a piece of fertile land.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Deu 31:19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. Read: Isa 27:2-3;Psa 80:8;Jer 2:21

2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

He built a fence around it and cleared it of all the stones and prepared the soil for planting, next he picked the very best grape vines and planted them. While they are growing he builds a lookout tower in the center in order to keep the animals and thieves out then he builds a winepress in the center of vineyard expecting a grape harvest. But the unexpected happened at harvest time the grapes were wild grapes, not many on the cluster and they were small and sour.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Jer 2:21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? Read: Psa 44:1-3; Rom 9:4;Neh 13:15;Mat 21:34-40.

3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

The ballad asks the question as to what God will do with this bunch of grape vines.

Mar 12:9 What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others Read: Psa 50:4-6

. 4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

Who’s to blame for the sour grapes? What more could the owner of the vineyard do?

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

2Ch 36:14-16 Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Read: Mat 23:37

5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

The song says that he is going to remove the fence and turn the field into a pasture field for sheep or goats.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT DEMONSTRATE THE TEXT:

Isa 27:10-11 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour. Read: Lev 26:31-35; Lam 1:2-9

6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

On second thought I will turn it into waste land, no more hard work hoeing out the weeds and briers─un-pruned─un-dug─un-weeded─an overgrown piece of waste land. He also decides to not water the vineyard.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:

Isa 24:12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. Read: Isa 32:13;Isa 32:13,14; Lev 26:33-35; 2Ch 36:19-21; Deu 28:23-24

7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

Now for the application of the story: Israel is the grape vine and the fruit he looked for was justice but the wild grapes of oppression and distress appeared.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

ESTABLISH THE CERTAINTY OF THE TEXT:

Psa 80:8-11 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. Read: Jer 12:10;Exo 22:22-27

8Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

He pronounces a woe on them for driving out the poor people and taking their land for housing development. Large land owners now owned the vineyards and they had drove out the inhabitants.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT PRESENT OVERWHELMING PROOF OF THE TEXT:

Hab 2:9-12 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity. Read: Mat 23:14;1Ki 21:16–20

9In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.

He says that these splendid mansions will lay uninhabited.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

ARE CONCLUSIVE AND FINAL:

Isa 22:14 And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

10Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

The song says that ten acres of vineyard will yield a little more than a pint of wine and that their grain fields would produce an equally poor yield.

Hag 1:911 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

11Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

He shames those who are engaging in a drinking bout seeking any thing that makes them intoxicated. They continue drinking till late at night and stagger in sometime in the morning and sleep it off during the day so that they can heat up their veins again the following night.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT RATIFY THE TEXT:

Isa 28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! Read Pro 23:29-30

12And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

At their drinking party they had lovely music and plenty of food. They had no regard for their family or work.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT BEAR OUT THE TEXT:

Amo 6:4-7 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

13Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

They had been inconsiderate about the operation of God; no heed or thought about their health, family, or friends. Therefore they are headed for exile.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT THE TEXT:

2Ki 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. Read: Hos 4:6;Lam 4:4-5

14Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

Hell is ready to welcome this madding crowd of rabble rousers to their new home.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT SHED LIGHT ON THE TEXT:

Isa 14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

15And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

These callous, uncaring, despicable men shall be brought down to their rightful place and some of the haughty, high-ceiling, disdainful people who think they are superior to others will be humiliated.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

VERIFY THE TEXT:

Isa 13:11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. Read: Isa 9:14-17

16But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

This holy God is being justified by his judgment and be assured that he is righteous in doing so.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT GIVE COUNTEREVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

Eze 36:23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. Read: 1Ch 29:11; Psa 46:10

17Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

Among the ruins of the vineyard lambs shall feed and strangers will eat the fat lambs.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CONFIRM THE TEXT:

Deu 28:33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: Read: Lam 5:2Isa 32:14

18Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

They were dragging their sin of perversity and iniquity along like a 4H boy leading a calf with a rope around the show ring at the county fair.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

GIVE AUTHORITIVE DATA TO THE TEXT:

They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.

6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

Jer 8:5-6 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Read: Psa 94:5-6

19That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

These sneering people were saying “let’s see what God will do so we can take a good look at it”.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

CARRY WEIGHT REGARDING THE TEXT:

Jer 17:15 Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now. Read: 2Pe 3:3-4

20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

What perversity! They called evil good and good evil; they were slick talkers and knew how to manipulate public thinking.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Pro 17:15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD. Read: 2Ti 3:1; 2Ti 3:2-3;2Pe 2:18-19

21Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

They had a high opinion of themselves─knew everything─thought they were smart; they saw themselves shrewd in their dealings.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Pro 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him. Read: Job 11:12;Pro 26:16; Pro 3:7

22Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

They were always bragging about the amount of liquor they could drink and how to mix drinks at the bar.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT INDORSE THE TEXT:

Isa 28:7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. Read: Hab 2:15; Pro 23:19-20; Isa 28:1-3

23Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

For a bribe they would release the guilty and then fine the innocent.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

Exo 23:6-8 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous. Read: Pro 24:24

24Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

God is going to dole out punishment to them: Just as sure as fire whips thru a field of broom sage or chaff left behind by the threshing crew. From fire he changes the metaphor to their root being rotten or their blossom (youth) disappearing as dust. All of this is happening because they have refused to respect the word of God.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT DEMONSTRATE THE TEXT:

Nah 1:10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. Read: Isa 47:14

25Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

God was angry with them; he has kicked down the gate and tore down the wall and now he’s likened it to a flame that was kindled and this flame reached out and smote them. Animate and inanimate objects tremble and although God is angry with them he is still poised to give them more of their just due.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:

Deu 31:17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? Read: Deu 32:19-22;2Ki 13:3

26And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

The prophet pictures God signaling to the nations that he wants them to muster an army to come and destroy Jerusalem. He will hiss (as bees are hissed from a bee hive) and they will come running.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

ESTABLISH THE CERTAINTY OF THE TEXT:

Jer 51:27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers. Read: Isa 7:18 ; Zec 10:8

27None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

They will come with haste and none shall stumble, they will not be too tired or exhausted no one will faint or lag behind they will run without stopping to rest or take a break. They will not take time to stop and wash their clothes and even their shoe laces will not break.

8Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

They have re-curved bows and the tips of their arrows are sharp for penetration. Their horses are shod so that they will not get lame on the journey and the wheels on their chariots make a whirling noise that sounds like a tornado roaring across the plains of Kansas.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ATTEST TO THE TEXT:

Psa 45:5 Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. Read: Jer 5:16;Jer 47:3;Nah 2:3,4

29Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

They are going to attack like a lion growling and seizing its prey and carrying it to a safe place where it can devour the carcass and they are helpless to rescue it.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ARE CONCLUSIVE AND FINAL:

Jer 4:7 The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. Read: Isa 42:22Eze 32:7-8

30And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

It will be a deafening roar like the waves lashing the shoreline during a hurricane. This army will usher in trouble─this will be the darkest day in their history.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT RATIFY THE TEXT:

Jer 6:23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion. Read Jer 50:42Isa 13:10;Eze 32:7-8;Isa 8:22